Sunday, January 23, 2022

Glorious Greens Step by Step Challenge - Island Batik Ambassador challenge for January 2022

How is it that this is my first post of 2022?  I guess this year got off to a slow start, at least for blogging!  I've been busy as can be in my sewing room, though.  I've been playing with the beautiful new fabrics that arrived in my Island Batik Ambassador box for the first half of the year - yes, I have been selected to continue on in my role as an ambassador for them in 2022! 


I almost decided not to apply for this year, but at the last moment changed my mind, and I am so happy and excited to be a part of the team again!  The first challenge of the year was to use these Glorious Greens from their basics line to make a gradation quilt.  


(Sorry, I must have been wearing pink when I took this picture as the lighter greens seem to have picked up a tinge of that!)  Aren't they pretty, though? Island Batik has developed ten colorways of gradations with 20 steps in each for their hand dyed basics line.  I was excited to get green because a quilt for my nephew was at the top of my list for the year and these were just perfect for that - he loves any color of green, so he gets a quilt with all of them!  I saw trees when I unwrapped these glorious greens, so decided to just make trees and graduate my colors from light at the top left to dark at the bottom right.  As always, I suggest to use the black and white filter on your camera to help decide value.



I did shift a few depending on the tone, but the black and white helps a lot!  I got out my Tri-Recs rulers and cut out a lot of pieces for the trees and background.  I used Rice for the background, the blue tone really looks nice with the greens, makes me think of a soft foggy day with the trees fading into the distance.


Time to get sewing!  That's a big stack of triangles, (110) but they went together pretty quickly, I just put a movie on my iPad and sewed my heart out.  It was really fun watching my forest grow on my design wall as I added each diagonal row of green!

I was just going to use the triangles to represent trees, but decided that they needed to have trunks.  Luckily I found the perfect brown in the basics and foundations bundle I was sent, so cut some strips and made trunks in a jiffy.  The pattern is Weave and the color Brownie!  Of course I like it - haha!


I sewed the columns as I went to help keep me from mixing up the values - I only had to rip out a couple of times!  I thought about staggering the rows, but decided that I liked them in nice straight lines!  When I got the top finished, my husband suggested blue for the back since they live in a town by the ocean, so I took the two 2 yard pieces that were sent with my precut strips and sewed them together to make a back.


I used the bleached cotton batting from Hobbs that was included in my box for the batting.  I love the weight of this batting, it's has a nice soft feel and drape, and will make this quilt nice for snuggling in!  I happened to have a spool of green variegated thread by Aurifil in 40 weight that was perfect for using on this project!  I decided that a swirl would be the perfect quiting design to finish this off, so put a Schmetz size 14 needle in my machine and got to work.


I found a nice dark green on my Island Batik shelf from another year (Poplar Trees in Hunter Green from Citrus Sun) for the binding - and love the way this finished!  My finished quilt measures 66 x 70 - hopefully big enough for my 6 foot nephew to snuggle under. I can't wait to get it in the mail to him,  I know he will love it!


You wouldn't think that the green thread would go with those dark greens, but it really looks wonderful on the quilt!  Sometimes you just have to go with your instincts and try something different - I figured there were enough different greens on this quilt that the thread would blend in, and it did!  And note that the 40 weight thread is wound on a green spool - more happy green for my project.


And my husband's idea of using blue on the back was right on.  I love the water inspiration, and am so happy with the additional personal touch for this quilt.


I usually piece my backing vertically, but I realized that I needed the extra length since each piece was 2 yards long - and it worked perfectly!  These pieces are from the Brilliant Blues - the dark is Denim and the light is Powder Blue. 

Thanks to Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Thread, and Schmetz Needles for making this project possible!




5 comments:

For the love of geese said...

So pretty. Funny how colors change in photos.

Quilting Gail said...

Beautiful, Pamela!!!

Emily said...

This is beautiful! I love the forest, and how the trees get darker the farther into the forest you go! I am sure your nephew will love it!

adele said...

Beautiful Quilt Pamela!

Quilthaventhreads said...

What a fabulous quilt! I love your trees.